This is an invitation to join me in the world’s first ‘Meta-crimp’. I’ll make a suggestion for the first half of a mixed metaphor & I’d welcome suggestions for the second half. OK, so it’s not crimping in the Booshest sense of the word, but it’s the best description I could come up with. Anyway, here’s the first bit:
You can take a horse to water…
Any takers?
10 responses so far ↓
tobybarnes // July 25, 2008 at 1:09 pm |
will you make me an editor, to add new ones – or just comments.
anyway here is one from Matt Jones – “don’t look a gift-pie in the crust…”
vivvid // July 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm |
‘You can take a horse to water…’
…but you can’t make it read the terms and conditions … (apparently?!)
http://weblogs.asp.net/plip/archive/2008/02/26/you-can-take-a-horse-to-water-you-can-t-make-it-read-the-terms-and-conditions.aspx
Martin hyde // July 25, 2008 at 7:20 pm |
This metaphoric term dates from the 12th century and was in John Heywood’s proverb collection of 1546 – http://www.answers.com/topic/you-can-lead-a-horse-to-water-but-you-can-t-make-it-drink
catchthevision // July 26, 2008 at 7:32 am |
‘You can take a horse to water…’
…but you can’t make it cross bridges before it gets to them . . . . . .
I’ve blogged recently on ‘Let’s CHANGE Management Speak’. I had some good stuff sent in, and it would be great to continue the campaign here!
Url: http://catchthevision.wordpress.com
iamdawn // July 28, 2008 at 2:41 pm |
Hi Graham
Thats great, really interesting to see that you recently did a piece about the quirks of business speak on your blog. I knew this would be right up your street.
Great to have you involved. Look forward to your sharing your insights with us.
catchthevision // July 28, 2008 at 3:20 pm |
Happy to join in Dawn.
Only today, someone expressed concern about something being frustrated because a person had ‘put a spoke in the wheel’. But putting a spoke in the wheel is exactly what is needed. Without a spoke in a wheel, the wheel would collapse.
I think that this term is really an incorrect equivalent of ‘putting a spanner in the works’, which probably refers to actions taken by Ludites to bring factories to a halt (not to mention indiana Jones?)
I’ll leave my comments on what this might mean for ‘Management Speak’ for elsewhere, but if I find any more mangled thoughts I’ll let you know.
Url: http://catchthevision.wordpress.com
Biff // August 6, 2008 at 9:05 am |
You can take a horse to water, but it will sink like a duck.
davidhayward // August 8, 2008 at 10:53 am |
“A bug up your ass”
from “A hair up your ass” and “a bug/bee in your bonnet”.
Goff // August 28, 2008 at 7:43 am |
What about “You can take a horse to water but you can’t make him talk the hind legs off a donkey”??
David // September 15, 2008 at 2:30 pm |
“blow me down with a feather” – knock me down with a feather + ?
Seen here:
http://twitter.com/jemimakiss/statuses/922005499